Comment is free + The Annapolis conference | The Guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/commentisfree+series/theannapolisconference
Indexen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015Sun, 02 Aug 2015 23:05:23 GMT2015-08-02T23:05:23Zen-gbGuardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. 2015The Guardianhttp://assets.guim.co.uk/images/guardian-logo-rss.c45beb1bafa34b347ac333af2e6fe23f.pnghttp://www.theguardian.com
No changehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/29/anomalousingaza
The situation between Israel and Gaza is one of conflict: recent events only reinforce the reality that this is likely to become open war<p>The response of Israeli officials to the latest events in Gaza may in essence be divided into two halves. The initial response was one of frustration at Egyptian unwillingness to restore order on the international border. The subsequent sense is that the latest Gaza events have served to clarify, rather than significantly alter, an already existing reality.</p><p>As the news began to come in of the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/24/world/middleeast/24gaza.html?_r=1&amp;ex=1358830800&amp;en=8d36136b4e1358a4&amp;ei=5088&amp;partner=rssnyt&amp;emc=rss&amp;oref=slogin">destruction of the southern border wall</a> separating Gaza from Egypt, Israeli and western officials demanded that Egypt take steps to re-assert its control. And as the exodus of Gazans began, there was widespread anger at Egypt for its failure to speedily impose its authority.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/29/anomalousingaza">Continue reading...</a>GazaEgyptMiddle East and North AfricaIsraelPalestinian territoriesAfricaTue, 29 Jan 2008 08:30:56 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/29/anomalousingazaGuardian Staff2008-01-29T08:30:56ZA lasting settlement?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/10/alastingsettlement
While George Bush talks up the prospects for peace, in reality he backs Israel's assault on Palestinians' legitimate national aspirations<p>West Point was the first United States military post built after the Declaration of Independence. It had been designed and constructed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadeusz_Kościuszko">Tadeusz Kosciuszko</a>, republican visionary, hero of the American Revolution and the 1794 Polish Uprising, and one of the greatest liberation figures in modern history. Kosciuszko believed and fought for a vision of an America emancipated from foreign rule, an America of both individual and collective liberty, a country that only waged wars of self-defence, and never wars of aggression and occupation. He was one of the founders of a great American tradition, the practice of hope and audacity in the struggle for freedom.</p><p>That practice was contesting a tradition of colonisation, slavery and empire - indeed, in appreciation of his contribution at West Point, Kosciuszko's commanding officer gave him the gift of a slave. Kosciuszclo immediately freed him, stating that all forms of slavery must be resisted, and that, in the contest for the soul of the republic, the side of liberation must always be chosen. To this very day, the American republic is constantly shaped by this ongoing battle between the tradition of cynicism and that of hope, one of conservative reaction versus progressive values and freedom.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/10/alastingsettlement">Continue reading...</a>George BushMiddle East and North AfricaIsraelPalestinian territoriesThu, 10 Jan 2008 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2008/jan/10/alastingsettlementGuardian Staff2008-01-10T19:00:00ZA bad investmenthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/29/abadinvestment
The time is ripe for Israel to begin making repayments to the Palestinians, not to amass more bad debts in order to expand settlements<p>If you owe the bank a thousand pounds, it's your problem - but if you owe them a million, then it's theirs. So it is in business, and so it is in the cauldron of Middle East politics, especially where Israel and Palestine's intractable conflict is concerned. In this case, Israel is clearly the debtor, with at least 40 years' worth of outstanding liabilities owed to the Palestinians in terms of expropriated land and compensation due. And the Palestinians are the eternal creditors, who rely on the rest of the world to act as bailiffs in order to redress the balance and ensure they are paid back in full.</p><p>However, regardless of the constant schemes of arrangement that the Israeli government enters into in order to satisfy the onlooking world, they manage to display a remarkable eel-like ability to wriggle out of fulfilling their promises. Witness the recent <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/932400.html">Har Homa affair</a>, which overshadowed all of the optimistic forecasts made after the <a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/category/annapolis/">Annapolis conference</a> a fortnight earlier.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/29/abadinvestment">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaSat, 29 Dec 2007 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/29/abadinvestmentSeth Freedman2007-12-29T14:00:00ZCold comfortshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/27/coldcomforts
<strong>The year that was:</strong> The feeling of security and apathy within Israel's borders has done little to enhance the prospect of a peaceful 2008<p>According to NBC correspondent Martin Fletcher, 2006 was an &quot;<a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16187962">annus horribilis</a>&quot; for Israel. Hamas had <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4650788.stm">romped home</a> in the Palestinian elections and, following the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5316418.stm">inquiry</a> over who &quot;won&quot; the <a href="http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1833349,00.html">war</a> with Hizbullah, Israel's future appeared to be anything but bright. However, given the ominous forecast that he and others made for 2007, Israel appears to have emerged from the last 12 months relatively unscathed.</p><p>But that's no good thing. At least, not in the wider picture of making peace with her neighbours and cementing a definitive, workable accord with the Palestinians. Inactivity breeds apathy when it comes to politics, and a year without any pressing need to take action means another year with no real progress on the peace front. In fact, if anything, 12 more months of stagnation has effectively reduced the likelihood of rapprochement in the short term.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/27/coldcomforts">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaThu, 27 Dec 2007 09:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/27/coldcomfortsSeth Freedman2007-12-27T09:00:00ZA tale of two citieshttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/21/ataleoftwocities
East Jerusalem is of no practical or religious use to Israel. Allowing it to become the Palestinian capital would benefit everyone<p>Half way along the route from my house and the town centre, the bus approaches the walls of the <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerusalem2.html">Old City</a> before swinging sharply to the left and heading up Jaffa Road. As it veers round the corner, the spot we call &quot;the edge of the world&quot; comes into view - the invisible divide between East and West Jerusalem, which effectively marks the city limits of the Jewish part of town. Barely any Jew has reason to venture beyond the junction, since - whatever the diehard nationalists claim - Jerusalem is a divided city already, in all but name.</p><p>Which is why there really is no good reason for Israel to continue to hold on to the Arab half of the city, especially given the mileage the government would gain from relinquishing their grasp. The political significance of acceding to Palestinian demands to hand over half of Jerusalem would mark a watershed moment in relations between the two peoples, and provide enough momentum to carry peace negotiations to previously uncharted waters.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/21/ataleoftwocities">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaFri, 21 Dec 2007 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/21/ataleoftwocitiesSeth Freedman2007-12-21T08:00:00ZDivided and ruled in Parishttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/18/dividedandruledinparis
Behind the donors' dollars lies an unholy alliance bent on destroying Hamas in Gaza - no matter the humanitarian cost to ordinary Palestinians<p>The current strategy of international involvement in Palestine <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2229023,00.html">has just entered</a> its most dangerous, most shocking and most sordid phase. Hallucinatory scenes of apocalyptic profligacy were unfolding in Paris yesterday as French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner grabbed a mike to badger member states to give yet more millions in aid to the suffering Palestinians. Meanwhile, Gaza is declared to be on the brink on an economic collapse of catastrophic proportions by <a href="http://www.ochaopt.org/documents/Gaza_Special_Focus_December_2007.pdf">the UN</a>, the <a href="http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-report-131207">ICRC</a>, the World Bank, and <a href="http://www.oxfam.org/en/news/2007/pr071121_gaza_public_health">Oxfam</a>.</p><p>Were the billions pledged yesterday targeted to address this current crisis? The more sickening reality, sadly under-reported, is that yesterday's donor initiative is actually creating this crisis. The money is to be spent in increasing the political, economic, social and civic siege of Gaza, in increasing the fragmentation of the Palestinian people, in pumping up a ruined leadership, and in thwarting any chance of national unity for the Palestinians. This is certainly not assistance to the Palestinian people (as the official version is attempting to spin it), but rather money to be given directly to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/18/dividedandruledinparis">Continue reading...</a>Palestinian territoriesIsraelWorld BankCharitable givingFranceGlobal developmentMiddle East and North AfricaGazaEuropeTue, 18 Dec 2007 16:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/18/dividedandruledinparisGuardian Staff2007-12-18T16:30:00ZStruggle for equalityhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/17/struggleforequality
A one state solution might be the fairest outcome for Israel and Palestine. But first Palestinians must focus on securing their basic rights<p>In recent months a small group of Palestinian and Israeli academics, mainly in the diaspora, have prepared an intellectual bombshell to challenge the Palestinian leadership on the almost 40-year basic premise of an independent Palestinian state alongside the state of Israel. The division over the question of one state or two states is now as dramatic as the Hamas-Fatah fighting of the last year, which split the armed resistance.</p><p>On November 29, 2007 - the 60th anniversary of the UN plan to partition Palestine into an Arab and a Jewish state - the group issued a <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/onestate.html">one state declaration</a> and are seeking co-signatories. It was a direct challenge to the Annapolis meeting three days earlier when almost the entire international community, including the Arab world, lined up - again - with the US, Israel and the Palestinian national authority behind the goal of two states (and excluding the elected political movement, Hamas).</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/17/struggleforequality">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaMon, 17 Dec 2007 11:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/17/struggleforequalityNadia Hijab and Victoria Brittain2007-12-17T11:30:00ZHamas is here to stayhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/12/postannapolis
Post-Annapolis, those interested in resolving the conflict have no option but to knock on its door<p>Daily deadly attacks on Gaza, the resumption of incursions into West Bank towns and villages and the <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/featuredCrisis/idUSN06245721">plan to build</a> three hundred housing units in East Jerusalem is hardly what the Arabs who attended Annapolis expected to be its immediate results. The Israeli measures must have <a href="http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2007/874/fr1.htm">surprised</a> even Mahmud Abbas and his team mates who, at Annapolis, were all smiles. Anyone watching TV footage of the Annapolis receptions could not miss the opportunity to see members of the Palestinian team warmly hugging members of the Israeli team, while other Arab delegates watched from a distance. The smiles on the faces reflected a congratulatory mood and expressed optimism that some unprecedented breakthrough was in the pipeline.</p><p>The reality is that Annapolis has primarily been about two things; first, maintaining the sanctions against the Gaza Strip and <a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/A9A31CF0-2312-4676-9645-06BF978536AE.htm">increasing the pressure</a> on Hamas; and second, re-launching the Road Map, which had long been dead and buried.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/12/postannapolis">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesIslamUS newsWorld newsMiddle East and North AfricaWed, 12 Dec 2007 09:00:21 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/dec/12/postannapolisAzzam Tamimi2007-12-12T09:00:21ZThe best we could gethttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/annapolisthebestwecouldget
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> I am cautiously optimistic about the outcome of the summit, especially when compared with the failed Camp David talks of 2000<p>&quot;A new start,&quot; read the headline in the mass circulation daily <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/home/0,7340,L-3083,00.html">Yediot Ahronot</a> the day after the Annapolis conference. Professor <a href="http://pluto.huji.ac.il/~podeh/">Elie Podeh</a>, head of the Islamic and Middle Eastern studies department at the Hebrew University, suggested the headline should have read &quot;A new start?&quot;, with the added question mark being very important.</p><p><a href="http://www.pr-inside.com/polls-show-israeli-skepticism-over-annapolis-r323280.htm">According</a> to public opinion polls, only 17% of the Israelis think the Annapolis conference was a success, while 42% consider it a failure.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/annapolisthebestwecouldget">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesWorld newsGeorge BushUS newsMiddle East and North AfricaFri, 30 Nov 2007 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/annapolisthebestwecouldgetHillel Schenker2007-11-30T14:00:00ZAll we need is a miraclehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/allweneedisamiracle
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> We cannot even be sure that a true peace process has been born ... just a commitment to the hope of one<p>Given that it took 129 days from July 16 to November 21 just to sort out the invitations to the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2218328,00.html">Annapolis meeting</a>, the holy land will be needing yet another miracle if the US is to broker a peaceful end to a 60-year-old conflict within just 12 months.</p><p>This was the largest gathering of the global community to discuss Middle East peace since the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madrid_Conference">Madrid conference</a> 16 years ago. Then, too, there was a Bush in the White House who had just had a war with Iraq. Then too, there was a US secretary of state who had jetted endlessly around the Middle East courting reluctant participants to the court of King George.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/allweneedisamiracle">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaFri, 30 Nov 2007 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/30/allweneedisamiracleChris Doyle2007-11-30T11:00:00ZHave we learned nothing?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/havewelearnednothing
It was dispiriting to hear a man claim, in a Belfast synagogue, that the Middle East conflict was a battle between good and evil<p>In Belfast, we fondly imagine that we are world leaders in the field of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/Northern_Ireland/flash/0,6189,344683,00.html">peace processing</a>.</p><p>As Israelis and Palestinians meet in <a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/category/annapolis/">Annapolis</a> to lay the ground for another round of negotiations on a final settlement, some are saying that peacemaking in Northern Ireland is an example of how long-time enemies can settle their differences.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/havewelearnednothing">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesNorthern IrelandNorthern Irish politicsWorld newsReligionIslamMiddle East and North AfricaJudaismBelfastThu, 29 Nov 2007 11:30:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/havewelearnednothingGuardian Staff2007-11-29T11:30:00ZPeace talks doomed to failurehttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/peacetalksdoomedtofailure
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> As expected, the meeting of politically destitute players who know their time is up achieved nothing of any substance<p>Any initiative that brings Israelis and Palestinians together should be welcomed, no matter how unlikely it is to change the facts on the ground. But however much hope the world had for peace in the run up to the Annapolis conference on Tuesday, it was clear that little would be achieved in this gathering of the down and discredited.</p><p>For Bush, this has been a clear attempt to achieve something positive out of the spiralling vortex of damage that his foreign policy has achieved. For Olmert, his domestic popularity stands in abysmal single figures making even Abbas look popular, who in turn has less authority over Palestinians than the mayor of the small Palestinian town of <a href="http://www.qalqilia.org.ps/?lg=en">Qalqilia</a>.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/peacetalksdoomedtofailure">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesWorld newsGeorge BushMiddle East and North AfricaUS politicsThu, 29 Nov 2007 10:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/29/peacetalksdoomedtofailureismail patel2007-11-29T10:00:00ZOlmert's bold stephttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/olmertsboldstep
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> By recognising the pain and suffering of Palestinians, Israel's prime minister showed his strength<p>It's not news that the key players at the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2217867,00.html">Middle East peace talks</a> in Annapolis are three men united by weakness. George Bush is in his last year with opinion poll ratings somewhere around his ankles, Ehud Olmert's numbers are not much better while Mahmoud Abbas is a president who rules only half his people. That said, strength and weakness are relative qualities - some are weaker than others.</p><p>The evidence for that came in the contrast in the speeches delivered by the two antagonists. Ehud Olmert included a <a href="http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c=JPArticle&amp;cid=1195546742246&amp;pagename=">remarkable passage</a> about Palestinian suffering: &quot;For dozens of years, many Palestinians have been living in camps, disconnected from the environment in which they grew, wallowing in poverty, neglect, alienation, bitterness and a deep, unrelenting sense of deprivation. I know that this pain and deprivation is one of the deepest foundations which fomented the ethos of hatred towards us.&quot;</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/olmertsboldstep">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesGeorge BushWorld newsMiddle East and North AfricaUS politicsTue, 27 Nov 2007 19:30:01 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/olmertsboldstepJonathan Freedland2007-11-27T19:30:01ZKeep the cynics at bayhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/keepthecynicsatbay
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> Today's meeting could revive hopes for Middle East peace, but only if the participants can silence the sceptics<p>Theories abound as to why an Annapolis conference and why now. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Seinfeld">Jerry Seinfeld</a> would be excused for thinking that this is all a personal conspiracy against him - his visit to Israel was dominating the headlines until Annapolis came along. In fact some in the Israeli media have been drawing a rather unflattering analogy: the Annapolis conference resembles a Seinfeld episode - it's about nothing. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Yada_Yada">Yada yada yada</a>.</p><p>It's easy to be cynical, but Annapolis does matter. Israelis and Palestinians will formally re-launch permanent status negotiations after seven long, violent and destructive years. The Bush administration is finally <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,2217578,00.html?gusrc=rss&amp;feed=networkfront">engaged</a> and expending some capital on this issue. The Arab world, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, will be in attendance. At the very least it is the kind of gathering that cannot be convened every fortnight, and to come away from it with no results would be a setback to the cause of Middle East peace and something of an embarrassment to those in attendance. The uninvited naysayers back home - Hamas, Iran, you know the list - may look like meanie spoil-sports today, but if a month from now negotiations are stalled and the situation on the ground is just as dreadful (place your bets) then it is they who will be wearing the Cheshire cat grins.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/keepthecynicsatbay">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesUS newsWorld newsMiddle East and North AfricaTue, 27 Nov 2007 14:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/keepthecynicsatbayDaniel Levy2007-11-27T14:00:00ZChasing a ghosthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/fallacyofthepalestiniansta
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> The 'viable Palestinian state' is an illusion, a deformed reality from which Palestinians must break free<p>If Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas <a href="http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&amp;storyid=2007-11-11T122209Z_01_L1028082_RTRUKOC_0_US-PALESTINIANS-ISRAEL.xml">is to be believed</a>, the Annapolis peace conference &quot;will be a historic opportunity to open a new page in the history of the Middle East based on the establishment of our independent Palestinian state&quot;. But this seems more like wishful thinking. For aside from being more concerned with preparing the ground for the approaching attack on Iran than with resolving the Palestinian Israeli conflict, the conference is subject to a set of limitations that combine to lower its threshold and shrink its potential.</p><p>The first of these is Bush's letter to former Israeli Prime Minister Sharon of 14 April 2004 which was <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/04/20040414-4.html">ratified</a> in both houses of the US Congress. The document confers full American backing for Israel's positions regarding refugees - who would be settled outside Israel's borders in contravention of UN resolution 194, which demands their immediate return to their homes - and illegal settlements, since as it states &quot;In light of new realities on the ground, including already existing major Israeli population centres, it is unrealistic to expect that the outcome of final status negotiations will be a full and complete return to the armistice lines of 1949.&quot; In other words, Palestinians should accept Israel's expropriations as a fait accompli.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/fallacyofthepalestiniansta">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesMiddle East and North AfricaTue, 27 Nov 2007 08:30:23 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/27/fallacyofthepalestinianstaSoumaya Ghannoushi2007-11-27T08:30:23ZConflict resolutionhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/26/conflictresolution
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> Israel's anachronistic founding document - 60 years old this week - should be the starting point for peace talks<p>Is it just a coincidence or was someone at the US state department indulging himself in a nerdish jape with the timing of the Annapolis peace conference this week? Thursday sees the 60th anniversary of <a href="http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/un/res181.htm">UN Resolution 181</a>, which divided Palestine into a Jewish and an Arab state. It was a bitterly contested vote, whose consequences have reverberated down the decades.</p><p>The resulting map broke many existing principles - not least of cartography. It produced a checkerboard state, without consulting the occupants directly. So, for example, the Jewish state held barely a majority of Jews and thus incorporated, presumably against their will, 400,000 Palestinian Arabs.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/26/conflictresolution">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesUnited NationsWorld newsUS newsMiddle East and North AfricaMon, 26 Nov 2007 19:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/26/conflictresolutionIan Williams2007-11-26T19:00:00ZSpeaking practicallyhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/24/speakingpractically
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> Too often in the Middle East extremists have been allowed to win out. This a rare chance for pragmatism<p>Jews tend not to be among Mayor Livingstone's biggest fans - his promotion of Muslim extremist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yusuf_al-Qaradawi">Yusuf al-Qaradawi</a> has aroused a lot of suspicion and resentment. However, we invited Ken to the <a href="http://welcome.to/sternberg.centre">Sternberg Centre</a> in north-west London because nothing is more important than dialogue. He said that he thought the creation of Israel had been a mistake but now that it exists, he is utterly committed to the two state solution. Three cheers for the pragmatist in Ken.</p><p>Three weeks ago, I had supper in the <a href="http://www.americancolony.com/History/tabid/56/Default.aspx">American Colony</a> hotel in East Jerusalem (where the Blair entourage has its HQ) with Jewish thinker Professor Paul Liptz and veteran newspaper editor and Palestinian Christian Hanna Siniora. Israel's foreign minister Tzipi Livni had just declared that the conflict was not between Israel and the Palestinians but between the extremists and the moderates. &quot;Not so&quot; said Siniora. &quot;The struggle is between the extremists and the pragmatists&quot;.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/24/speakingpractically">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesIslamIranWorld newsMiddle East and North AfricaSat, 24 Nov 2007 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/24/speakingpracticallyTony Bayfield2007-11-24T11:00:00ZWin, win?http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thereareinternationalconfer
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> Saudi Arabia's decision to attend next week's conference is to make sure Arab states cannot be blamed for failure.<p>There are international conferences so widely believed to be doomed that one reason governments attend is to avoid the accusation that their absence contributed to failure. Annapolis next week looks to many like just such a meeting. But it could also be the kind of failure, or half failure, which genuinely moves things on. <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2216102,00.html">Saudi Arabia's decision</a> to attend follows many weeks of American pressure, as well as consultations with other Arab states, culminating in the Arab League gathering at which Saud al-Faisal made his announcement. Saudi Arabia would go to Annapolis, the Saudi foreign minister said, because there was an Arab consensus that it should do so. That consensus, it can be speculated, is not that there is any great chance of a big breakthrough there, but that, first, Arab states must avoid blame for failure, and, second, that they should take this opportunity to internationalise the conflict, an internationalisation which Israel has always in the past resisted.</p><p>The strategy, in other words, is based on asking the question of who is going to look good after Annapolis - rational, go the extra mile Arab states, or an Israel at its old game of offering generalities, vaguely worded declarations, &quot;flexible&quot; timetables, and quid pro quo arrangements of which it insists on being the sole judge ? The Arabs,after all, have only one real nettle to grasp, the refugee issue, while the Israelis have at least three, including Jerusalem, settlements, and final borders. Ryadh, and perhaps also Damascus, if Syria gets the assurances it needs about the Golan Heights, may well be calculating that they are in a position of advantage. In the event of a really successful meeting, with Israel and the Palestinians both making solid commitments and the United States ready to effectively monitor the negotiations which follow, they would be part of the general rejoicing. If the meeting is a complete failure, they can walk away saying that at least they tried.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thereareinternationalconfer">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesRace issuesUS newsMiddle East and North AfricaFri, 23 Nov 2007 19:00:41 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thereareinternationalconferMartin Woollacott2007-11-23T19:00:41ZDeja-vu in the Middle Easthttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/dejavuinthemiddleeast
<strong>Annapolis:</strong> Like Clinton before him, Bush is racing to resolve one of the world's most dangerous conflicts before his presidency ends<p>Does history repeat itself, after all? Recent developments in the Middle East suggest that the answer is &quot;yes,&quot; because the situation at the end of President George Bush's tenure increasingly resembles that of Bill Clinton's final year in the presidency. Both presidents, at the end of their respective terms, sought to resolve one of the world's most dangerous conflicts, while facing the threat that time was running out on them.</p><p>One could despair: the Bush administration has obviously wasted almost seven years during which it could have pursued a solution. We are now back to the starting point: the Camp David and Taba talks - flippantly abandoned in January 2001 - are to be taken up again. Still, as the wise saying goes, better late than never!</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/dejavuinthemiddleeast">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesGeorge BushWorld newsUS newsMiddle East and North AfricaUS politicsFri, 23 Nov 2007 11:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/dejavuinthemiddleeastGuardian Staff2007-11-23T11:00:00ZThe best deal on offerhttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thebestdealonoffer
When inhabitants of the Middle East can live together in harmony a one-state solution may work. Until then, two states is the only way<p>Ask the average Israeli whether they would support a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,1051542,00.html">one-state solution</a>, and the reply will be a Hebraic version of &quot;that's like asking turkeys to vote for Christmas&quot;. And it's hardly surprising, given the paranoia and fear that swirls round the Holy Land, enveloping its citizens like a dense blanket of fog. However, just because that might be the kneejerk reaction to the proposal doesn't mean - in an ideal world, in some utopian existence in the future - that the idea doesn't carry weight.</p><p>I was taken to task on my <a href="http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/seth_freedman/2007/11/ijv_rebels_without_a_cause.html">last thread</a> for expressing a similar aversion to the idea of &quot;one state fits all&quot;. In my piece, I'd commented that &quot;any group that calls for the eradication of Israel as a Zionist entity is as inimical as <a href="http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Terrorism/PIJ.html">Islamic Jihad</a> in my book&quot; - and I meant every word, given the context in which I said it. Namely, that the Middle East of today is a very different beast to the Middle East that the fantasists would like to believe it to be, hence to propose a one-state solution in the current clime is mere pie-in-the-sky thinking.</p> <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thebestdealonoffer">Continue reading...</a>IsraelPalestinian territoriesWorld newsMiddle East and North AfricaFri, 23 Nov 2007 08:00:00 GMThttp://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2007/nov/23/thebestdealonofferSeth Freedman2007-11-23T08:00:00Z